The women's soccer team kicked off its season yesterday with a dominant 3-0 shutout win in a non-league game against the University of Southern Maine Huskies.
Bowdoin experienced several near misses from close-range shots in the early going and nearly put the game out of Southern Maine's reach within the first 10 minutes of play.
The Polar Bears were able to maintain constant pressure and scored their first goal at the 26:01 mark, when Kaley Nelson '15 buried a loose rebound in front of the goal.
While the first year class ignited the scoring, senior captain Ellery Gould '12 got to work and put home the final two goals of the match.
Gould's first tally came at 41:14 off of a cross from Alexa Yurick '15, when she drilled the ball hard and low past the diving Southern Maine goalkeeper.
Ronaldinho would have been envious of Gould's second goal, as she headed a perfectly placed cross by Casey Blossom '13 into the back of the net.
Several other Polar Bears nearly increased the lead, with a header from Molly Popolizio '14 careening off the crossbar.
A long bomb of a shot by senior captain Celeste Swain encountered the same fate.
Sophomore Lauren Skerritt's efforts in the offensive box early on created numerous opportunities that almost put Bowdoin on the board in the opening minutes.
In the net, Louise Johnson '14 stopped all three shots she faced to preserve the shutout in her first career start.
The goalkeeper's strong efforts backboned a stingy defense that limited the Huskies to a mere six shots, compared to the 33 shots—15 on net—that her team unloaded on Southern Maine.
The game provided a great season-opening win for a young Polar Bear starting lineup featuring two contributing first years and a number of returning players who did not start last year.
"The freshmen are a talented class," said Gould. "The younger players performed well today and will continue to step up big and contribute in the coming games."
Gould's own contributions bring her within half a dozen goals of breaking the school's career scoring record.
"I don't really think about it," said Gould of her impressive results. "I just try to focus on my own game and how I am playing. Scoring goals helps the team win, and contributing to a team win is what's really important."
With yesterday's win in its pocket, Bowdoin can now move forward and focus on its upcoming league matches.
"This game was a good start to the season for us," said Gould. "We moved the ball well and were able to generate a number of great scoring opportunities."
"Now that we've had some game experience," she added of the team, "we know what we need to work on and are excited to start NESCAC play."
Gould's pursuit of the goals record and the team's quest for its next win continues tomorrow, when the Polar Bears travel to Connecticut to take on Wesleyan at noon.